Cash-indicator.



No. 687,8". -P atented Dec. 3, I901.

D. K. ALLISON.

CASH INDICATOR.

(Application filed Feb. 25, 190).; (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

REBA HEB/X. REBATE RE REBA a, u t a a Fig.1.

W'TNESE|C5' IVE E1 C21- I I UNITED STATES PATENT OFF CE.

DANIEL K. ALLISON, OF TROY, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO DANIEL K. ALLISON, OFTROY, OHIO, AND FRANK A. FOSTER, OF DAYTON, OHIO.

CASH-INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 687,81 1, datedDecember 3, 1901.

Application filed February 25, 1901. Serial No- 48,6'7'7. (N0 model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL K. ALLISON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Troy, in the county of Miami and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Cash-Indicators; and Ido declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ofthe invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being bad to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in cash-indicators. V

The object of the invention is to provide a machine that has a capacityfor showing to a purchaser the amount or price of his purchase by meansof elevating numbered indicators and at certain intervals to elevatethese indicators to a higher position to expose thereon an additionalindication-such, for example, as a prize, rebate, or premium of somekind. The indicators in their ordinary operation of exposing theprice-figures are only elevated a sufficient height to exhibit suchprice-figu res; but at certain periods or intervals in the operation ofthe machine any one of said indicators is lifted to a still higherposition to exhibit the other indication thereon, which, as beforestated, consists of some word denoting that that particular purchaser isentitled to some prize, rebate, or other premium in addition to hispurchase. It Will be understood that this Word indicating a prize, 820.,will not appear in the usual elevation of the indicators to exhibit theprice, but only at certain intervals. Forexample, when an operating-keyis operated a certain number of times the next operation of suchoperating-key will throw its respective indicating-tablet to a positionabove its usual height. When these periodical operations take place, thepurchaser is informed by the appearance of the indication that he isentitled to some prize, rebate, or other premium with his purchase.

In a detail description of my invention reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a front elevation of myimproved cash-indicator, a portion of the frame appearing in section anda portion of the wheels and adjunctive mechanism removed; Fig. 2, afront elevation of myimproved cashindioator as it will appear wheniucased in the cabinet. Fig. 3 is a sectional side elevation. Figs. 4and 5 are detail views of the combination-wheels.

Similar reference letters indicate corresponding parts in the severalviews of the drawings.

A A designate suitable side frames, B a front plate having verticalguide -slots B therein, and O is arearward plate having verticalguide-slots O therein.

Fulcrumed on shaft 0 are a series of operating keys a, which projectthrough the guide-slots B in the front plate B and are thereby kept aproper distance apart and suitably limited in their downward movement.The operating-keys extend upwardly at their rear ends, as at a andpivoted thereto at a are a series of supplemental levers a, whichproject through the guide-slots O in the rear plate 0 far enough toengage with the indicator-rods 7L, of which further mention will bemade. These supplemental levers a are held up against lugs a on the endsa by means of springs a The operating-keys a are drawn to their normalposition after each operation by means of springs a which are fastenedto the operating-keys and to the transverse cross-frame I. Theindicator-rods h are guided in their movements by cross-frames E and D,through which they pass, and said rods support indicator cards ortablets 71.3, which for the purposes of my invention bear in addition tothe usual figures denoting and indicating the price of a purchase aninscription or words denoting and indicating a prize, rebate, or otherpremium. At suitable points the said indicator-rods 7L are provided withlugs h and 72 which serve to hold the indicating tablets or cards 72/ intwo different elevated positions where they will be exposed to view.-When any one of the indicatorrods is lifted by its correspondingoperating-key, one of these lugs h or W will rest on top of theoscillating retainingbari. This bart' lies between the side frames,

is pivoted at 11 and has adownward extension 17*, which terminates at aright angle and lies in the path of a shoulderj of an inclined barj.Extending from the bar I; at one end is a projection i, which when suchbar is in its normal position rests upon a lug 2' projecting from a sideframe A. Such lug i and projection 2" allow the bar 2' to approach theindicator-rods very closely, but also prevent the same from restingagainst the indicatorrods. The inclined bar 3' has a pivotal connectionat b with a downwardly-projecting arm b. The latter arm is a part of atransverse oscillating frame I), which is fulcrumed on the shaft 0 andlies across the top of the operating-keys. Upon the actuation of anoperating-key the barj is moved upwardly and rearwardly. The shoulderjthereon coming against the extension 2' moves the retainingbar '11 awayfrom the indicator-rods h, and thereby permits an exposed tablet to dropby gravity to its original unexposed position. \Vhen the indicators aremoved upwardly in the normal operation of the machine, the projection itrises above the retaining-bar t, the nose 9 of the pawl g limits themovement of such projection h, and the indicator is held in supportedposition by the retaining-bar t', or if the pawl g is in the positionshown in Fig. 3 the indicator will be permitted to rise to a higherposition, thus bringing the projection 71 in a position to rest on theretaining-bar 11. Then one indicator is elevated and another is about tobe elevated, the frame I), being actuated with each operating-key,operates the downwardly-projected arm Z) and moves the bar 7'rearwardly. In this operation the shoulder] on said barj presses againstthe extension 2' of the retaining-bar t', and thereby moves theretaining-bar t' away from the indicators a sufficient extent to allowthe previously-elevated indicator to fall by gravity. The retaining-bart' is normally held in the direction of the indicator-rods by a spring2'. On shaft 0 there is loosely mounted a series of wheels, each ofwhich is composed of two parts-to wit, a disk 6 and a ratchet-wheel f.These two wheels rotate together by being made in one piece or in twoparts united. There are as many of these compound wheels as there areoperating-keys, and one cooperates with each of such operating-keys. Atone point in the periphery of each of said disks there is a notch e, ofwhich further mention will be made. Pivoted to each of theoperating-keys at d and standing upright is an arm or rod d, which isheld in place and guided in its movements by a transverse frame G,through which it passes. The upperends of each of the arms 61 support apendent pawl d pivoted at (1 Each of the pawls (Z is pressed in by aspring (1 and engages with its respective ratchet-wheelfand causes suchratchet-wheel to move the extent of one tooth each time an operating-keyis operated. Each of such ratchet-wheels is provided with aspring-detent f, which is fastened to the transverse cross-bar F byscrews f There is arranged on shaft (3 a series of check-pawls g, whichare held against the peripheries of the disk-wheels e by pressure ofsprings g, which are fastened to said pawls and to the cross piece H.The engaging end of each of these pawls g is provided with a nose g,which fits the notch e of its respective disk-wheel c, and oppositethereto with a projection 1 designed to approach the indicator-rods itclosely without touching such rods whenever the nose or projection g isriding on the periphery of its corresponding disk wheel. Whenever anycheck-pawl g has its nose riding on the periphery of its correspondingdisk-wheel c, then the corresponding indicating-tablet will belimited inits upward movement by its lug 7t striking against the pro jection g ofits cheek-pawl and as long as the check-pawl g is in this relativeposition the indicating-tabletwill thus continue to be arrested eachtime it is elevated, in which partial elevation it will only expose toview the numbers on the upper part thereofto wit, the numbers indicatingthe amount of the sale; but when the disk-wheel c has been moved untilits notch e is adjacent to the nose 9 and the nose g has been pressedtherein by the spring g then in that particular operation the projectiong will have moved out of the path of the lug 7t and will thereby allowthe indicating-tablet to be elevated its full height, and thereby exposeboth indicationsto wit, the amount of the sale and also the words Prize,Rebate, (be. Thus it will be seen that when the check-pawl g of any keyin the operation thereof will move either in or out of the notch c it isessential that it should make its full movement and be at rest beforeits corresponding indicatingtablet will have been elevated far enoughfor its lug h to come in contact with the projection 9 In order toaccomplish this, I have provided means for operating theratchetwheelsfand disk-wheels c quicklyto wit, in the first part of thestroke of the operatingkey-and for keeping them at rest the remainder ofthe stroke of the operatingkey, and in furtherance of the same object Ihave provided the pawl (1 which is held in engagement with theratchet'wheelf by a spring d". Now as the pawl (Z will have a great dealmore movement than is necessary to turn the ratchet wheel one tooth Ihave provided means for limiting the engagement of such pawl with itsratchet-wheel. These means consist in providing the inner side of suchpawl with a surface and a matching or corresponding surface on thecross-frame F. The contact of these two surfaces will throw such pawlout of engagement with its ratchetwheel as soon as it has moved farenough to carry the ratchet-wheel one tooth, and in the continued upwardmovement of such pawl it will be held away from the ratchet-wheel. Thusby this operation I obtain a quick movement of the ratchet-wheels abovementioned.

The operation of my invention is as follows: When a sale is made, theamount of such sale is indicated by pressing down upon an operating-keyin the usual way. The corresponding indicator-card affected thereby willbe elevated by means of the supplemental key a, that cooperates with theoperatingkey depressed. If the corresponding diskwheel 6 is in aposition that brings its notch e adjacent to the nose g of itscorresponding check-pawl 9, that particular indicator-rod h will beelevated to its full or highest position, and the lug 71,2 on such rodwill rest upon the retaining-bar c' and will be thereby held in aposition to exhibit the amount of the sale and also the word orwords'denoting a prize, rebate, or other premium or whatever may appearthereon in addition to the figures in-- dicating the amount of the sale.(See Fig. 2.) \Vhenever a disk-wheel 6 corresponding to anyoperating-key is so turned or positioned that its correspondingcheck-pawl g has its nose g in contact with the periphery of such wheel,then if its corresponding indicating card or tablet be elevated itsupward move ment will be arrested by the lug h striking against therearward extension g of the pawl 9. At the same time the retaining-bar iwill move under the lug h and retain such indicating-tablet in itspartially-elevated position. Also the supplemental levers a will allowthe operating-key to complete its full stroke without giving additionalupward movement to the indicating-tablet. In this case the tablet isonly partially exposed or is I onlyelevated to a height sufficient toshow the amount of the purchase.

While I have described my invention in detail in order that it may beproperly understood, I do not desire to limit myself to the details ofconstruction so described. On the contrary, I desire to claim, broadly,means for moving the indicating-tablets in a cashindicating machine atpredetermined periods out of their normal positions or the positions inwhich they exhibit the amount of a sale to positions in which theyexhibit in addition to the amount of such sale other matter-to wit,indications denoting that the purchaser is entitled to a prize, rebate,or premium.

Having described my invention, I claim-- 1. In a cash-indicator, aseriesof operatingkeys, a corresponding series of indicators actuated by suchoperating-keys, such indicators bearing two kinds of indications andbeing movable to two distinct and separate positions to exhibit suchindications, in one of such positions only one of said indications beingVisible, and in the other of such positions, both of said indicationsbeing visible, and means for controlling such indicators in said twopositions.

2. In a cash-indicator, a series of operatingkeys, a correspondingseries of indicators actuated by such operating-keys, said indicatorsdenoting the amount of a sale, and a prize, rebate or premium, and beingmovable to two positions, in one of which said indicators exhibit theamount of a sale alone, and in the other of which said indicatorsexhibit both the amount of a sale, and a prize, rebate or premium, meansfor controlling said indicators in their movements, and means wherebythey are supported in such positions.

3. In a cash-indicator, a series of operatingkeys, and acorrespondingseries ofindicators, each of which bears indicationsdenoting the amount of a purchase, and a prize, rebate, or otherpremium;said indicators being movable to one position to exhibit the amount of apurchase alone, and to another position, at predetermined periods, toexhibit both the amount of a purchase, and a prize, rebate, or otherpremium, means whereby such indicators are controlled in theirmovements, and means whereby such indicators are supported in theirrespective exposed positions.

4:. In a cash-indicator, a series of operatingkeys, a correspondingseries of indicators, each of such indicators having inscribed thereonthe amount of a purchase, and words denoting a prize, rebate or otherpremium, means for limiting the movements of such indicators in theirnormal operation to exhibit alone, the amount of a purchase, and meanscontrolling such indicators, at predetermined periods, whereby they aremoved to a different position, to exhibit both the amount of a purchase,and a prize, rebate, or other premium.

5. In a cash-indicator, a series of operatingkeys, a correspondingseries of indicators actuated thereby, said indicators being movable totwo positions under the movement of such operating-keys, one of suchpositions being the normal position in which such indicators exhibit theamount of a purchase, and the otherof such positions beinglimited topredetermined periods and in which both the amount of a purchase, and aprize, rebate, or other premium are exhibited, and means for controllingthe movements imparted to such indicators, and for supporting them intheir different indicating positions.

6. In a cash-indicator, a series of operatingkeys, a series ofsupplemental levers connected thereto and actuated thereby, acorresponding series of sales indicators actuated by such supplementallevers, means for limiting the movement of such indicators to theirnormal exposed position, and means enabling such indicators, atpredetermined periods, to move to a different position from that inwhich they normally expose the sales indications, and in which positionsaid indicators expose in addition to such sales indication, a prize,rebate, or other premium.

7. In a caslrindicator, a series of operating keys, a series ofindicators arranged to be actuated thereby to positions to indicate theamount of a purchase only, and intervening mechanism arranged to causesuch indicators to move to a different position to expose an additionalindication thereon at predetermined periods.

8. In a cash-indicator, a series of operatingkeys, a series ofindicators actuated thereby, said indicators bearing distinct andseparate indications, one ofsuch indications only being visible duringthe normal operations of such indicators, and both of such indicationsbeing simultaneously visible at intervals or at predetermined periods,means whereby such indicators are limited to and are supported in theirnormal exposed positions, and whereby such indicators are enabled tomove to and are supported in positions to exhibit both said indicationssimultaneously.

9. In a cash-indicator, a series of operatingkeys, at seriesofindicators operated thereby, such indicators bearing separate anddistinct indications, a series of wheels actuated by said operating-keyssimultaneously with the operation of the indicators, and meansinterposed between such wheels and such indicators whereby suchindicators are limited in their movements, to a position to expose asingle indication thereon, and whereby such indicators are permitted, atpredetermined periods, to assume a different position to expose anadditional indication.

10. In acash-indicator,a series ofoperatingkeys, a series of indicatorsoperated thereby, such indicators bearing separate and distinctindications,a series of wheels actuated by said operating-keyssimultaneously with the operation of the indicators, and meansinterposed between such wheels and such indicators whereby suchindicators are limited in their movements, to a position to expose asingle indication thereon, and whereby such indicators are permitted, atpredetermined periods, to assume a different position to expose anadditional indication, and means for supporting and releasing saidindicators.

11. In a cash-indicator,a series of operatingkeys, a series ofindicators actuated thereby, such indicators bearing separateindications, one of which denotes the amount of a sale, and the other ofwhich denotes a prize, or rebate; a series of wheels actuated by saidoperatingkeys, means interposed between such wheels and such indicatorswhereby such indicators are limited and controlled in their normalmovements to expose the amount of a sale, and means whereby suchindicators are controlled in their movements and enabled to asest/s11 sume a different position to expose the amount of a sale, and in additionthereto, a prize, rebate, or an indication of similar import.

12. In a cash-indicator,aseries of operatingkeys, a series ofsupplemental levers actuated thereby, a series of indicators actuated bysuch supplemental levers, a series of wheels actuated by saidoperating-keys, and means interposed between said wheels and saidindicators whereby said indicators are permitted to assume differentpositions, one of such positions taking placein the normal operation ofsaid indicators, and the other position taking place at intervals or atpredetermined periods.

13. In a cash-indicator,a series of operatingkeys, a series of wheelsactuated thereby, a series of indicators,said indicators being movableto different exhibiting positions, means under the control of suchwheels whereby the movements of such indicators are controlled, andmeans for supporting and releasing such indicators upon each operationof an operatingkey.

14-. In a casl1-indieator,a series of operatingkeys, a series ofsupplemental levers pivoted thereto, a series of indicators actuated bysaid supplemental levers, means for limiting the movement of suchsupplemental levers to a less movement than that of its respectiveopcrating-key in the normal operation of elevating an indicator, and forallowing said supplemental levers to more the full stroke of anoperating-key at predetermined times, substantially as specified.

15. In a cash-indicator,a series of operatingkeys, a series ofsupplemental levers connected thereto and movable therewith, a series ofindicators movable by said supplemental levers, a series of wheelsmovable by said operating-keys, the movements imparted to such wheelsbeing completed before the actuatingkey has completed its downwardstroke, and means interposed between such wheels and the indicatorswhereby an indicator is permitted, at predetermined periods, to rise toa higher position than its normal exposed position.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DANIEL K. ALLISON.

IVitnesses:

F. A. Fos'rnn, R. J. MOCARTY.

